John Coltrane
Blue Train: The Complete Masters (stereo tapes)
Blue Note Tone Poet Series – B0035204-01, BST 1577, (2022, Sept.).
Originally released in mono on Blue Note – BLP 1577 (1957, Nov.).
Originally released in stereo on Blue Note – BST 1577 (1960, June).
Evaluated by Claude Lemaire
Ratings:
Global Appreciation: 9.3
- Music: A
- Recording: 8.7
- Remastering + Lacquer Cutting: 9.3
- Pressing: 9.8
- Packaging: top notch deluxe laminated gatefold with booklet
Category: jazz, hard bop, bebop.
Format: Vinyl (2x180 gram LPs at 33 1/3 rpm).
Personnel:
John Coltrane – tenor sax.
Lee Morgan – trumpet.
Curtis Fuller – trombone.
Kenny Drew – piano.
"Philly" Joe Jones – drums.
Paul Chambers – bass.
Additional credits:
Original session produced by Alfred Lion.
Compilation produced and supervised by Joe Harley.
Recorded September 1957 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey.
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder.
Remastered and lacquer cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, North Hills, CA.
Plated and Pressed by RTI, CA, USA.
Original cover design by Reid Miles.
Updated gatefold design by Todd Gallopo and Tory Davis for Meat and Potatoes, Inc.
Photography by Francis Wolff.
Coltrane's Blue Train... On second thought, make that Blue Trane.
"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them"
– William Shakespeare
Along with Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane represents the pinnacle of saxophone supremeness. Certainly Parker, the primary player, was a true jazz genius, creating this revolutionary frenetic language baptized bebop, hence liberating and transforming the music forever. His only downfall, dying prematurely at age 34, stemming from many years of heavy heroin and alcohol consumption. Curiously the Colossus Rollins, who like so many of his peers worshipped Parker, was both influenced by the latter in getting hooked on heroin, and later seeking help to quit–the result of which was he kept playing for six decades, and is still alive today in his early-90s. On many counts, Coltrane seems to fit in between these two extremes.
Born in 1926, six years after Parker and four years prior to Rollins, Coltrane played mostly tenor, but also alto like his senior idol, while later adding the soprano sax of his junior rival to his arsenal.
In October 1955, Miles Davis, now under contract with Prestige Records, hired him to join his "First Great Quintet", only to fire him in April 1957 for his heroin and alcohol dependence–Davis himself, had been hooked on heroin before quitting "cold turkey" a few years earlier. Coltrane cites this event as a "spiritual awakening", prompting him to quit the junk and sober up a month later. Immediately things started to look brighter for the tenor when Rudy Van Gelder recorded his debut album on Prestige [PRLP 7105], scheduled for fall release.
Davis and Coltrane did reconcile a couple of years after, taking part in Milestones and Kind of Blue. He would die at age 40 of liver cancer, or some speculate of hepatitis, perhaps caused by his previous drug or alcohol abuse.
All Aboard!...
On September 15, 1957, accompanied by the "dream team" lineup of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and "Philly" Joe Jones on drums, he reentered RVG's first studio situated in Hackensack, New Jersey, to lay down on tape some of the most ferocious jazz playing cut to wax.
Four out of the five tracks are Coltrane originals, the sole holdout being a Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern standard situated on side two. Inexplicably this will be his first and only Blue Note session as a leader. Keep in mind we are talking about the leading edge jazz label of that time–and arguably most important of all time–passing up on signing this new jazz giant.
Along with Giant Steps for Atlantic Records [SD 1311] in 1960 and A Love Supreme for Impulse! [Acoustic Sound Series B0032077-01, AS-77] in 1965, Blue Train counts as one of Coltrane's and Blue Note's most prestigious and accomplished albums.
Tone Poet takes off!
Propelling the engine to 2012, musician and record producer Don Was is appointed the new president of Blue Note Records, and in 2019 launches the terrific Tone Poet Series.
Headed and supervised by Music Matters' Joe Harley, with reissues remastered and cut all-analog from the original session tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, and pressed on 180 grams at RTI in California, they try to maintain a cadence of two LPs per month.
Nearly all of its releases are presented in beautiful laminated gatefolds featuring mostly original B&W Blue Note session shots by photographer extraordinaire Francis Wolff.
In other words, they set the bar extremely high at a very reasonable retail price, keeping the competition on its toes, with the consumer as the biggest beneficiary. After nearly four years in operation, the vinyl verdict is in: music lovers and audiophiles alike have near-universal praise for the series, both sonically and visually. Having heard almost all of their releases–thanks to a fanatical friend collector of mine who lets me borrow them–I can confirm that the vast majority do sound impressive and superior to my mostly mono RVG "deep groove" Blue Note originals. Although there are strong sonic similarities from title to title–not surprising given 95% were recorded by Rudy in only two different locations, hence the famous "Blue Note sound"–every now and then, you'll find a release that disappoints a bit because of a lack of bass precision or quantity, and/or a muffled piano, while on other occasions, the sound may explode and exceed expectations.
Like Kind of Blue, Blue Train is one of those jazz monuments that stood the test of time, and has been reissued so often it's hard to keep track. In the case of Blue Train, Kevin Gray first cut it in 2008 with Steve Hoffman for Analogue Productions in stereo on double-45 rpm, then in 2014 for Music Matters in mono at 33 1/3 rpm, and finally in 2022 just last month for Tone Poet for the 65th anniversary of the original recording session in both mono and stereo editions at 33 1/3 rpm. Since the last months he and Harley have been making the rounds of the vinyl YouTube channels promoting the big launch. Needless to say, this time expectations were sky high!
Tone Poet's visual presentation not only met their usual high standards but surpassed them by including a full size 10-page booklet inserted in the inner part of the gatefold, stapled to the "hinge" featuring photos of Coltrane with the others, and ending with the original master tape boxes.
Of course, the outer jacket is beautifully laminated with B&W photos of the musicians on each inside face. Every detail is de bon goût. The only visual improvement would have been better replicating the original label with a "deep-groove" indentation.
Nevertheless, this should serve the entire record industry as an example to emulate.
Onto the tracks...
"Blue Train" departs from the station with the majestic theme led by trombone and trumpet, then sax chimes in, all three aligned in unison in the left channel, while the piano mostly in the centre and bass on the right counter with a simple "thump thump", with the drums also panned right solidly coming in on the final double "thump" triggering the rhythm. Then Coltrane sprints forward in one of his finest solos ever–surpassed perhaps by "Giant Steps" three years later with his "sheets of sound" concept but still debatable–channeling Charlie Parker's bebop spirit through nearly three full minutes non-stop, a testament to his stamina. At that moment, Morgan takes over–not unlike "Bird" and Dizzy did in the 1940s–for two minutes.
Fuller fills in but is pace is slower at first and the bass and drums seem to wonder and waver as to where to land the snare and get its act together before they pick up speed, the bass walking in double-time. Drew on piano picks up at the seven-minute mark in an easy swinging style, shifting to double-time a minute later, only to switch back to normal swing; the rhythmic trio keeping it together throughout. At eight-minutes in, the spotlight shines on Chambers' bass coming closer and stronger within the soundstage with a light backing of hi-hat and snare keeping the time until the main theme from the intro reprises a final entry.
With "Moment's Notice", you feel the urgency of the moment on this fast paced bebop-influenced piece. Again Trane is the first to fire up the crowd dominating the front scene while drums and piano comp in the background. Particularly interesting are the moments where he keeps on playing solo when the others briefly pause. Fuller follows. Morgan materializes towards midway, matching Trane's energy, and hitting all the high notes, giving him a run for his money and in lock step with Jones' rhythmic pulse, syncopating the snare. For his solo, Chambers switches to the bow until Drew does the final stretch in fine form.
"Locomotion" leaps at even greater speeds, following the recurring pattern of Trane, then Fuller, but this time the latter is up to the challenge and delivers a worthy race. At exactly midpoint, Morgan absolutely kills it, his clear tone, very expressive and reaching stratospheric heights and dizzying density. Philly Joe finally gets his moment in the sun in a rousing drum solo that rocks the joint.
"I'm Old Fashioned" is the sole ballad, providing us, and them, a bit of a breather. Here Lee Morgan and Kenny Drew dig this slow, smooth, romantic jazz standard.
Lastly "Lazy Bird"–which probably pays homage to Tadd Dameron's immensely popular and covered "Lady Bird"–boasts bebop chops Charlie Parker could have been proud of, and certainly he was no lazy "Bird". Once more, Morgan amazes the senses tapping into Dizzy's dexterity. Coltrane comes in after Fuller in what appears to lack coordination or perhaps a poorly-executed tape splice, and ditto for the transition to Drew. Chambers does a short solo with the bow, handing it off to Jones going solo for equal duration before the return of the main theme.
Regarding the sound, there are no big surprises, in the sense that we recognize RVG's typical instrument placement for this brief period around 1957 where he was just beginning to experiment and record in stereo, and running a second mono tape deck in parallel for the mono LP releases.
That is why all three horns are together in the left channel instead of counterbalanced or spread out–with for example the sax on the left with the trumpet and trombone on the right–like he usually configured through the 1960s. Also the strong points are the horns and the drums while the piano and bass are good but less stellar. That said, it does seem that Rudy really did a great job, and above his average, with non-distorted dynamics, top end openness, drum impact, room ambiance, and presence/reverb ratio.
Occasionally he can show a tendency to go overboard with the added reverb plates, or runs into mic or tape saturation-distortions–often on Art Blakey recordings. Thankfully, nothing of the sort on this recording. I believe also that given the significance of this 65th anniversary milestone album, with Don Was and Joe Harley's great love for this particular Blue Note title, that Kevin Gray outdid his usual high standards to present something truly special.
The sound is extremely open and refined. When Trane takes off in the title track, I felt a sense of visceral excitement I rarely get from a recording. For that to happen, everyone had to surpass themselves which means Coltrane, Gelder, and Gray had to give 110% to transmit that positive energy, transcending my sound system! The biting tone, air definition, and imaging of the saxophone–the trumpet is no slouch either–are startling. The whole drum kit is really impressive in its immense impact, natural tone, lovely cymbals finesse, and room depth. The trombone is good especially in the intro and coda. The piano when comping is typical RVG–i.e. far back and muffled–but during Drew's solos he is brought closer to the front scene, and though more band-limited than a Riverside or Three Blind Mice recording, is honestly quite articulated and impressive in its midrange presence and clean hammer force, for which I suspect Kevin Gray put a lot of effort in. You could probably described the bass sound in a similar manner. That is, during most of the pieces when comping, he falls into that often times RVG ill-defined bass sound–where it is too low in level and lacks articulation to easily follow the bassist's fingers, and giving a shy bottom end to the overall tonal balance. But when Chambers is soloing, he too is brought to the fore, toward the right of the stage, and in these instances, bowed or not, the bass has presence and palpability, and is a delight, and again Kevin must have tweaked this with tasteful targeted EQ. And this constitutes probably my only complaint of the sound; I would have wished to emphasize Chambers' bass throughout the album and not solely during the solos. The RTI pressing was shiny, silent and well-centered.
I don't have an original to compare but the only other stereo pressing that I have is the 180g 2000 Classic Records, remastered and cut by Bernie Grundman, which is generally excellent. The Tone Poet surpasses it on nearly every measure, markedly on the cymbals' clarity and treble refinement, piano presence and realism, drum impact, and the overall dynamics. The only exception being the bass instrument is more precise and slightly more present on the Classic Records during the comping, but as soon as there is a solo, the Tone Poet has the upper hand in being more front and weighty. Original pressings of this title are extremely expensive and hard to find in fine playing condition, and based on numerous comparisons I've done on other Blue Note titles, are often inferior to the Tone Poet, Music Matters, Analogue Productions, and Classic Records reissues.
The alternate takes on the second record (sides C and D) sound excellent though a tad less refined and balanced. While the music interpretations can be interesting to compare, I don't believe I'll go back to them often, convincing me that the final take choices done back in the day were the right ones–the title track being the most obvious example to my ears.
Finally I got to listen and compare the Tone Poet single LP mono version [B0035204-01, BST 1577], also done by the exact reissue and remastering team, still presented in a laminated gatefold but without the inner booklet found in the more expensive Complete Masters edition. It is also excellent sounding, and apart from the obvious soundstage differences, fairly similar in tonal balance, so I did not perceive any advantage over the stereo version as is the case in certain circumstances. My favorite version remains by far the Tone Poet stereo version for what I find is a more exciting and realistic presentation of seeing a sextet play live acoustic close together in a small venue.
On that seminal September date, Trane took us on quite a ride, his next step would prove to be a Giant one.
Reference list (albums and labels):
John Coltrane – Coltrane [Prestige PRLP 7105]
John Coltrane – Giant Steps [Atlantic Records SD 1311]
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme Impulse! [Acoustic Sound B0032077-01, AS-77]
Miles Davis – Milestones [Columbia CL 1193]
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue [Columbia CS 8163 or MoFi MFSL 2-45011]
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